Here's an interesting take on the current David Paterson saga (and honestly...this has become the definition of a saga) from Ben Smith at Politico. Short version: David Paterson is to Eliot Spitzer what Sarah Palin was to John McCain. Except that New York State would be much luckier to have Palin. (more...)

Anyone else feel like New York politics has turned into some sort of evil game of roulette? With yesterday's news that Harold Ford would not be throwing his hat in the New York senate ring (carpetbagging is harder than it looks folks!) comes a whole new round of gaming who might be willing to give it a shot. Enter (again) Daily News and US News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman. Even the New York Post thinks this is a good idea. (more...)

Is this Gov. David Paterson's last day in office? The New York Times' ongoing blockbuster investigation of our beleaguered governor is less a blockbuster at this point than the political equivalent of the Friday The 13th franchise, with each installment gorier than the last. Today's story however, may be the final nail in the coffin. Perhaps now might be a good time to brush up on New York State's governor succession rules. (more...)

The New York Post with an actual Paterson scoop? The paper is reporting that beleagured Gov. David Paterson will announce he's not be seeking reelection at 11:30 this morning. (more...)

The New York City tabloids are in agreement. Both their about headlines -- I suspect the lack of any sort of pun is supposed to denote some level of seriousness on their part -- and the fact it's time for David Paterson to GO! Nothing brings batting media empires together like a politician on the rocks. It's hard not to wonder whether they've had various versions of this front page under wraps for the last couple of weeks as they bided their "bombshell" time. Meanwhile here's today's A-1 story hed from the NYT: 'Paterson Weighs Race as Top Aide Quits in Protest.' According to Elizabeth Benjamin, Paterson has said "he's a candidate for governor "right now," but also allowed he has an "open mind" about suspending his campaign." Which I suspect means he's just biding his time to see how much worse this can get. Aren't we all.

The collective conscience of the New York City tabloid editorial departments are at work this morning. After news broke yesterday that Tiger Woods would be giving his first press conference (coffee klatch conference?) tomorrow, everyone wants to lock Tiger Woods up! Tiger on the loose, etc. (more...)

It looks like the long-rumored, much-chattered about New York Times 'bombshell' story about Gov. David Paterson -- one that even had the Gov. doing the media rounds in defense of what may or may not being coming -- may end not with a bang but a whimper. (more...)

video It's entirely possible the now weeks-long debacle over the rumored but not-yet-seen NYT "bombshell" story about New York Gov. David Paterson may end up being the best thing that ever happened to him. New Yorkers love nothing more than public figures who give as good as they get and Paterson has certainly been doing that this week with a full court press pushback that landed him on Larry King last night. Here's part of the exchange (video after the jump). Who knew we had a Governor who read Kafka! (more...)

Meta Wow. Well welcome to the new, new journalism where even the New York Times editorial board is forced to go meta. Seriously meta. Apparently, the rumors about a Paterson, fueled in equal parts by the blogosphere and the venerable New York City tabloids, got so out of hand the Times felt they had to push back in a editorial blog post. Snake eating its own tail, etc. (more...)

New York was promised a government sex scandal, dammit, and we better well get one! At least if the New York City tabloids have anything to do with it. Apparently not satisfied with the news that the New York Times has only a sort of mediocre scandal to report in their much-gossiped about upcoming David Paterson profile, the tabloids have taken it upon themselves to stir up as much "chaos" as possible. Something which David Paterson is not terribly pleased about. Paterson tells the AP: (more...)

Once upon a time, Mandy Stadtmiller was the dating columnist at the New York Post. These days, she's gone gonzo -- becoming the story by flying to Las Vegas to rendezvous with our great nation's first legal male prostitute, "Markus," for today's Post cover story. This ain't American Gigolo; it's something far more embarrassing. (more...)

Ah, a tale of two tabloids. Over the weekend Governor Paterson, who admitted early on in his term that he and his wife had not always been faithful to each other, and whose son was arrested last week for shooting dice, (which is to say, Paterson is not new to the tabloids) was seen canoodling with a strange woman in New Jersey steakhouse. Or not. Politico's Michael Calderone first noted the different versions: behold the NYP vs. the NYDN over the case of our lovin' Governor. (more...)

Admittedly, one does not necessarily turn to the cover of the New York Post for hard news. But come on. The paper which devoted 20 consecutive covers to Tiger Woods has thus far made space for the Haiti disaster once this week. That was yesterday. Today's cover, meanwhile, highlights the really important news of the day: NFL football, President Obama's decision to give unions a pass on the health care 'tax', and the continuing travails of NY1 reporter Dominic Carter. Like I said, no one really expects hard news from the Post, but New York City has a significant Haitian population and it's hard to see this as anything but a disrespectful slap in face to them. Thursday's cover below.

If ever a man's career accurately encapsulated the big media landscape of today, Richard "Mad Dog" Beckman's would be it. After serving Si Newhouse and Condé Nast for 24 years, the New York Post is reporting that Beckman will leave his position as CEO of Condé's Fairchild Fashion Group to become CEO of e5 Global Media, a new trade publication company. (more...)

Who says there's no such thing as a little shoe-leather reporting these days? Headline-happy tabloid the New York Post is reporting today that Yankees captain Derek Jeter is set to marry his girlfriend, the actress Minka Kelly, two days after next year's World Series on November 5th. But it wasn't an insider tip or publicist leak that got them the story -- it was good old-fashioned deception. (more...)

The media establishment in New York may frequently feel that the dismantling of their industry has reached what could be described as biblical proportions of the "dogs and cats living together" type. Be that as it may, it apparently is not yet bad enough for the New York Post and the New York Daily News to consider "printing together," despite the fact such an arrangement would feasibly be to their mutual benefit. (more...)

Upon hearing that NBA teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other in a locker room showdown, my first thought was not about the future of a game that I love, or commissioner David Stern's fury, or even the safety of anyone involved. I just wondered what the New York Post headline would be. The paper first reported the incident Friday, but Sunday morning was the headline we've been waiting for and it's a poker pun. "Texas Hold Up," the front cover reads, referring to the nature of the teammate duel, which appears to stem from an unpaid poker debt of $25,000. The Washington Wizards players high stakes gambling "ended in 'draw!'" according to the notoriously headline-happy paper.

Arenas pulled three guns and placed them on a chair by Crittenton's locker in an apparent bid to intimidate the third-year player, the sources said. Arenas, 27, told his teammate to pick one of the weapons, and Crittenton, 22, shot back that he had one of his own, the insiders said. At some point, the players had guns drawn on each other, but no shots were fired.

The NY Post has not been immune to the rocky year of print publishing. Despite rumors of slumping newsstand, a persistent ad recession, and a nasty harassment allegation, the Post still delivers on what it does best: evidenced in the front page headline on today's paper that concerns the failed attack of Flight 253. (more...)

The New York Post has listened to my cry for a covers archive! Sort of. The Post is currently running a feature on its website allowing you to vote for your favorite New York Post cover of the decade. Talk about an embarrassment (sometimes literally) of riches. (more...)

Today marks the 20th straight day in a row that Tiger Woods has hit the cover of the New York Post. Want to put that in perspective? The previous holder of the most consecutive Post covers title was the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which dominated for 19 straight days. I suppose this officially makes Tiger the the Sherman McCoy of the sports world in the eyes of the New York media. I wish I could do a side-by-side comparison just to give you a visual appreciation of the phenomenon, but as I have bemoaned on prior occasions the New York Post archive only goes back to 2007 (ahem, Rupe). (more...)

video Ashley Dupre made a stop at The View today to talk about her new New York Post column, cheating men and more. Soon-to-be departing ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson was there too, but he was the 2nd guest (priorities). Also, she poked fun at how little the Post pays (it's no prostitution, that's for sure). (more...)

“There are many, many, many doors that many, many, many people would prefer stay tightly closed for now.”

developing The Tiger Woods gossip of the past two weeks seems to have had real-world consequences: a blonde woman was rushed to the hospital from Woods' house and put on "advanced life support" last night. Details are hazy, but Tiger Woods' mother-in-law, Barbro Holmberg, appears to have been staying at his house, and according to some accounts, the woman looked like Woods' wife Elin Nordegren. (more...)

Never fear conspiracy theorists of the world! The Birthers are alive and well and advertising in the pages of the Washington Times. And what an advertisement it is. It's unclear what is more offensive here: the accusation that President Obama is not an American citizen, or the ape imagery. The former, of course, is utterly ridiculous. The latter is not. Also, now Obama is British. (more...)

Last month, former New York Post associate editor Sandra Guzman filed a doozy of a harassment lawsuit against the paper, charging everything from racial insensitivity to prejudiced hiring practices to rampant sexism and corruption. Her firing, she claimed, was due to her skin color and stemmed directly from her reaction to a political cartoon that she took issue with, which portrayed the stimulus bill as a dead monkey. Now, the cartoon is playing a central role in a second lawsuit, filed by former Post employee Austin Fenner, a black reporter, who alleges that he was the victim of "Jim Crow"-style segregation and faced open hostility in the newsroom. (more...)

“If Murdoch bothers to say something, it's almost an even bet that he's lying.”

There have been times the past twelve months or so when it's seemed as though Rupert Murdoch may be attempting to build some sort of way-back machine that would take both him and his media empire back to a safer time when the Internet could not interfere with his newspaper world dominance. The latest evidence is news that Rupe is going to take his newspapers off Google. Not a joke. (more...)

Remember that Clinton/Bush debate that was going to be "The Hottest Ticket in Political History"? From this morning? Well hope you didn't write it on your calendar in pen, 'cause it's been canceled. From the NYP:

A "debate" between former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush has been nixed because the promoter overhyped it as a death-match faceoff between the men, The Post has learned.

Here's a tip for any ESPN employee looking to engage in some good old-fashioned questionable behavior: you may want to time your transgressions to light sometime during the third week of the month. Why? Cause then you can fly under ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer’s radar for at least 30 days. (more...)

That was fast. Ivanka Trump married Jared Kushner over the weekend. The two have been engaged since July. The New York Post has the first wedding photos, which sort of begs the question why Kushner wouldn't post them on the website of the paper he actually owns (keeping one eye on the future investors, perhaps?). The salient details courtesy of the Post. (more...)

video Today's New York Post has an exclusive, excruciatingly detailed account of ESPN analyst and former New York Mets GM Steve Phillips' "Fatal Attraction"-like affair with a production assistant. And that's just the beginning - there are websites digging up info and pictures of the woman in question - and now one blog is ready to empty their inbox to expose other potential ESPN sexual trysts. (more...)

In this morning's summary of shifts in the Power Grid, we noticed that former Governor Eliot Spitzer had mounted a comeback and cracked the top 5 TV Pundits, putting himself right back in the spotlight. We chalked his most recent surge in face time up to some big money real estate deals and a new scandal involving a former aide, but this explanation overlooks Spitzer's well-paced and respectable return to form. How has he once again become a man to watch? (more...)

At some point the New York daily tabloids are going to become a luxury instead of a necessity. That day has apparently arrived at the New York Times Metro Desk. The Observer is reporting that the Metro Desk has been informed that as of today all magazine and newspaper subscriptions have been canceled, meaning if you want the paper you now gots to pay for it. (more...)

Based on the coverage David Letterman's alleged love life is getting these days you'd be forgiven for concluding that Letterman wasn't the victim of a $2 million extortion plot -- which he chose to reveal himself, to both the police and a national television audience -- but the subject of an undercover investigation or sexual harassment lawsuit. In the past three days the tabloids have done a fairly successful job painting the late night host as a lecherous, randy comic who preys on innocent staffers. Today we find out he keeps a a fold-out couch and a kitchen in his office! Oh the humanity. (more...)

Sometimes it's hard not to wonder if Rupert Murdoch didn't exist whether Vanity Fair's (and Newser's) Michael Wolff would have invented him, so much joy does Wolff seem to get from writing about him. (more...)

"Did Rupert Murdoch call the fuzz on the Yes Men?" tweets David Carr, (in what could also be the opening line to an old Perry Mason episode). What Carr is referring to, of course, is Monday's fake New York Post prank, orchestrated by the group Yes Men, who published and handed out their (impressive) environmentally-themed version of the Post at multiple locations around the city. Or attempted to hand it out, anyway. (more...)

What do you call a journalist who dresses up as a fireman on Halloween, starts a fake fire so that he can trick and then sexually abuse a female colleague in her New York City apartment for upwards of 12 hours before leading police on a multi-state man hunt? The answer? A freaking huge Gossip Girl fan. Apparently not even prison can keep convicted rapist, Peter Braunstein (who is currently serving his 18 years to life sentence), away from the CW network. The sexual predator turned Gossip Girl fiend hand-wrote a seven page letter to the New York Post earlier this week naming the new season of Gossip Girl as one of his incentives for "staying in the game", aka not killing himself. He follows up the statement with the same question that I'm sure all rapist/convicts alike ask themselves in jail: "...but is Gossip Girl in and of itself reason enough to stay alive?" There's about a billion teenage girls who could probably help you with the answer to that question. I guess there's even more of a link between media entities and Gossip Girl fashionistas than we thought.

Barring some sort of 'jackass' remark during tonight's taping of Letterman it's pretty much a given that this picture of President Obama greeting New York Governor David Paterson on a tarmac earlier today will be the front page of tomorrow's New York Post (the real one). (more...)

slideshow Did your New York Post look stranger than usual this morning? Rumors have been swirling for a while now that the Yes Men, those fun folks who brought New Yorker's last year's fake New York Times, were cooking up something new. Turns out it was a fake New York Post, which was handed out this morning to commuters city-wide. SLIDESHOW: Fake New York Post While last November's fake Times announced the end of the Iraq war, today's fake Post is all about the environment. Nothing like printing papers to save trees! The fake Post reports, (real Post-style!) on secret environmental reports predicting "massive climate catastrophes, public health disasters." Considering the recent resurgence of swine flu probably more than pre-coffee reader was taken in by the front page alone. (more...)

video Glenn Beck took a moment on last night's show to critique the cover of the this week's "fringe media" Time featuring him, the 'Mad Man.' And to give credit where credit is due he makes a fair observation about the media world: he is not the only media type out there peddling paranoia! (more...)